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The equipment that land surveyors use has changed dramatically over the last few decades. In the not too distant past land surveying meant little more than marking of land with known measurements of chain or rope, using telescopes to determine angles and doing some math. While these methods served in most situations well enough, they were nothing like the precision and accuracy made available by today's land surveying equipment.
Surveying is a skill that requires accurate terrestrial measurements. This involves the three-dimensional position of points, angles and distances. The surveyor applies mathematics such as geometry, trigonometry as well as general engineering know-how to these raw data. The measurements are used in applications that range from cartography to architecture to city planning.
Ever more precise and faster computers, laser measurements and GPS have made a wide variety of tools available to the land surveyor. Which tool he chooses depends on the demands of a given project as well as the preferences of the surveyor. Some of the commonly used surveying equipments are described below.
One of the biggest revolutions in the land surveying industry in recent years has been the GPS system. It begins with the simple notion that knowing the precise geographical location of two points then determining the distance between those two points is a matter of simple math. GPS made establishing those positions to remarkable degrees of precision possible.
Lasers have long been in the surveyor's tool bag but have become increasingly more useful as advances in computers and the laser equipment itself have increased their usability and functionality. The obvious advantage of the laser is that it describes a straight line - far straighter a line that any chain, string or tape could hope to describe. While gravity and terrain greatly affect the ability of these more concrete objects to be straight, lasers have no such problems and can be depended on for accurate measurements.
Smaller, faster and more efficient computers have also gone a long way to improving surveyor's equipment. Like lasers, land surveyors have been making use of computers for a long time but every few months there seems to be a more compact system with a greater range of useful applications. Using the data gathered from lasers and GPS equipment described above computers can now draw surprisingly accurate representations of any location in three dimensions.
The land surveyor's range of tools has changed dramatically over the last few decades. Even so surveying remains a profession that requires a unique and rare skill set. Regardless of the apparent ease of use of modern tools, it takes a land surveyor's know-how to make the best use of these tools as well as the results.

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